Hi,

I have a bristle nose who is around five years old. Recently he had to change aquariums thanks to an unexpected leak. He has been very active ever since, but today I noticed this:




Is this white spot? And if so, is the temperature increase method the best way to deal with it?

Many thanks.

No, not white spot (Ich). That looks like really tiny grains of sugar/salt dusted over all of the body.

Bit blurry though. Just the one blob? Is it fluffy? Any other symptoms at all?. Any hard décor he could have hurt himself on?

Just to rule the most obvious out, can you confirm:

- Tank size and all stock (include breeds and numbers)
- Tank water readings for pH, GH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate
- Did you move all existing filter media over to the new tank

Hi,

Thanks for the reply Violet, sorry it is blurry, shy fish, bad photographer and a temperamental iPhone :)

Levels in the tank are all ok and yes, I used some medium from the old canister filter, and around 80% of the water came from his original tank - not ideal I know, but his old tank was loosing a litre every hour.

His new tank is a bit smaller - 129 litre compared to 200, but the old tank was way under stocked. He has three mollies, half a dozen neons and a yo yo loach that he has lived with for four years without any difficulties.

It isn't fluffy - just kind of a lump.

Can you please post actual results as opposed to saying "all fine", i.e ppm?

One mans fine, is another mans nightmare of course.

Have to be honest, looks like water quality in the tank, may be the culprit here.

Stuff to consider in the interim until you post:

1. Mix of stock. You have hard water and soft water stock in the same tank. Certainly some species won't be happy, that then results in stress, which leads to illness

2. That's a lot of stock for the tank given, As we usually recommend 2.5 cm of fish (adult) per 4.5 litres to start with, doubling when the filter is mature. The tank is overstocked IMO. Overstocking again, leads to stress and often results in illness.

Given you only moved 'some' filter media, it's likely to still be catching up i.e almost like a new tank. Tank water doesn't hold any bacteria TBH

Water quality may be the issue here, rule this out before contemplating meds. Fish under stress with an ailment don't do well with random medding.

If you can post back with tank readings first, we should be able to recommend the med (if needed) that would help.

Thanks Violet,

The tank actually has a fluval 206 on it with carbon filter currently in place, also I should gave mentioned - 50% old substrate from his old tank, 50% new, as well as stones, bog wood and some plants as well as a friendly marimo ball he likes to push around. So we did what we could to get as much bacteria into the system as possible. I also did a 25% water change after seven days.

The tank is partly planted, some more are on the way and gets liquid fertiliser every other day and liquid CO2 additive every days (TNC I think)
He gets fed algae wafers and the odd slice of courgette.

The water this morning is as follows:

Ph is 7.0/7.1ish
Ammonia 0
NO2 0
NO3 19/20ish

Apparently according to my friendly neighbourhood water company, we are in a crossover area which has both soft to moderate and moderate to hard water, so no real help there.

Quote:
If that is the case you defiantly should have a test kit for water hardness, especially if it will vary and this could cause problems with your fish.
Is an important piece of kit in any aquarium keepers #OOPS#nal but in your case its essential!
As for the "white spot" from the poor quality of the photo it looks like it could be an ulcer ( though not 100% due to the photo quality) these can arise from abrasions and or bacterial infections. they are quite common in caged fish which are constantly swimming against the net then get infected.
but again I'm not 100% sure and I'm sure others on the site will be able to diagnose better than me